I, myself, am an African-American male and I will give all of you, my adoring audience my incite and thoughts going through my head as I viewed this film. Let's get this review started shall we?
The Plot (contains full spoilers)
In 1858, several male slaves are being transported across Texas by the Speck brothers. In their group is Django (Jamie Foxx), who was separated from his wife Broomhilda (Kerry Washington) when they were sold to different buyers at a slave auction. The Speck brothers encounter Dr. King Schultz (Christoph Waltz), a German dentist and, unbeknownst to them, bounty hunter. Schultz frees Django and kills one of the Speck brothers, leaving the other to be killed by the now-free slaves. Schultz reveals that he sought out Django to aid him in identifying the Brittle brothers, a trio of ruthless killers working for a plantation owner. Schultz confesses that his bounty hunting profession is opportunistic, but emphasizes to Django that he "despises slavery". The two come to an agreement: in exchange for helping locate the Brittle brothers, Schultz will free Django from slavery and give him $75 and a horse. After hunting down and killing the Brittle brothers, Schultz takes Django on as his associate in bounty hunting. Django is initially uneasy about his newfound role, but soon proves himself to be talented.After collecting a number of bounties, Schultz and Django confirm that Broomhilda's current owner is Calvin Candie (Leonardo DiCarpio), a charming but brutal plantation owner. At Candie's plantation, Candyland, some of his male slaves are trained to fight to the death in a sport known as "Mandingo fighting". After securing an invitation to Candyland, Schultz and Django devise a plan to reach Broomhilda by posing as potential purchasers of Mandingo fighters. Upon their arrival, Schultz introduces Django as a free man, which causes hostility at Candyland, where racism is extreme. They witness a runaway slave's execution by being torn apart by attack dogs but quickly come to an agreement to purchase a Mandingo fighter. Schultz offers to also purchase Broomhilda, claiming that he noticed that she speaks German and feels that she would help alleviate his nostalgia for his mother tongue. Candie agrees to the sale.
Schultz and Django's interest in Broomhilda raises the suspicions of Candie's staunch head slave, Stephen (Samuel L. Jackson). He correctly deduces that Django and Broomhilda know each other, and that the Mandingo sale is a ruse. He informs Candie, who, armed with this information, demands $12,000 for Broomhilda, threatening to kill her if they decline. Schultz and Django agree to purchase Broomhilda at this price, but Candie's humiliating, unsportsmanlike behavior enrages Schultz. Schultz kills Candie after the paperwork finalizing the sale is completed, but Schultz is shot and killed in turn as Django tries to escape Candyland. Django shoots some of Candie's men in the household, but surrenders when Stephen threatens to order Broomhilda's death. As punishment, Stephen suggests Django to be sent to a coal mine and worked to death, and Candie's sister Lara agrees. En route to the mine, Django convinces the slave drivers that he is a bounty hunter, showing them the handbill from his first kill as proof. Once freed, he kills the slave drivers, takes their dynamite, and rides back to Candyland.
Returning to the plantation, Django discovers Schultz's body and takes the certificate of freedom that Candie signed for Broomhilda as part of the purchase agreement before his death. Django enters the unoccupied Candyland mansion and plants the dynamite. When the residents return from Candie's funeral, he kills the gunmen and Lara, frees the house slaves, shoots Stephen in the knees, and lights the dynamite's fuse. Django rides away with Broomhilda, leaving the wounded Stephen to die in the explosion. (-- via Wikipedia)
My Thoughts
First of all, the soundtrack to this film is beautiful and delightful to the ears. That's one of many talents Quentin Tarrantino has a knack for, and that's a good ear for music. The cinematography for this film really stands out as well, displaying the gorgeous landscapes that Django and Schultz traverse through on their adventure together.
I wonder how many people could catch on that the gunfight after Schultz is killed is shot almost identical to the finale of Scarface.
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| Give me an Oscar, dammit!! |
Secondly, I'm glad to see that Quentin Tarrantino is continuing to learn from his mistakes of previous films. To me, Kill Bill Volume 2 and Death Proof, fell flat on their faces because Quentin Tarrantino LOVES to include a long and lengthy dialogue session between the key characters in his films to capture the naturalist quality of that spectacle and draw his viewers in. He finally realized that not everyone is a film studies major and/or graduate and can endure that much of dialogue in one sitting without progressing the plot further. Django Unchained delivers a perfect balance of dialogue and action set pieces to ease the boredom.
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| Good job, Kerry. |
Thirdly, I have to give the entire cast an applause for a job well done, but it's DiCaprio, Jackson, and Waltz who shine through as the true stars of this film. DiCaprio continues to impress me with his diverse variety of skills on acting since I have seen his work in Shutter Island and Inception. He refuses to allow himself to fall into that one type of character that most actors find themselves 'comfortable' in and constantly evolves and continues to challenge himself in different roles and archetypes. Jackson seems to whore himself out into everything he lends his talents too, and this film is no exception. He is the character that everyone will be talking about for years to come and filling Internet memes about. He didn't make me laugh this much since his roles in both The Boondocks and Pulp Fiction. Waltz is considered to some as the unsung star of Inglourious Basterds and he continues to shine in this film. I don't want to discredit Foxx for his work here, as he was definitely a much better choice for the role of Django, rather that Quentin Tarrantino's first choice, Will Smith, who backed out of the role after the controversy surrounding the film prior to its release. Kerry Washington's part was mediocre at best as any female black actress could have done her role to similar effect. She suffers from the same "meh" factor that Beyonce Knowles encountered when she appeared in Austin Powers in Goldmember. Her acting wasn't great nor it wasn't bad either - she just was really there.
Last but not least, I want to speak about the controversy surrounding this film. Okay, I'm a black guy and I had tons of laughs during this film from start to finish. I can understand that this is touchy subject manner to most of the community, but it is no different than that "The Story of Catcher Freeman" episode of The Boondocks where Grandad was telling Huey and Riley a very similar tale to this one. I did notice that almost everytime the infamous N word was said it was as if the white actors and actresses were literally afraid to say it. That alone made me smile a bit, as it shows that they have some respect for our culture and how brutal this period of time was for our people. In all honesty, I don't see why African-Americans are still offended by the use of the N word as the rap culture uses it continuously and most of our people use it openly in almost every aspect of their lives. Hell, I'm sure there going to be several Caucasian people offended after seeing this film from how brutal some of the deaths of plantation owners and other 'bounties' are put to rest. I'm not going to lie - I was literally in tears laughing at the finale. But let's be serious here people. If we haven't learned anything at all from this film or The Boondocks, it's okay to laugh at ourselves every now and then.
The Verdict?
The film runs at roughly a bit close to three hours, but it was an enjoyable experience. I honestly don't have anything negative to say about the film that would deter one's experience, save that if the subject manner of slavery and the extreme violence that one should expect from Tarrantino's work would disturb you in any way, then don't see this film. Otherwise, I highly recommend Tarrantino's fans - both old and new, to give this one a shot. I give this a 9.5 out of 10.
Now if only Quentin Tarrantino can release that 5 hour cut of this film and the 6 hour cut of Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair for we can see both of these films as how they were intended...
